


Children of the Force

by PalestAzure



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Father-Son Relationship, The Mandalorian (TV) Season 2, Young Ben Solo, force connection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27891796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PalestAzure/pseuds/PalestAzure
Summary: When Grogu is reaching out through the Force on Tython, a young child, strong with the Force, senses him and reaches out right back.
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Ben Solo, Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Din Djarin, Ben Solo & Han Solo, Sheev Palpatine & Ben Solo
Comments: 4
Kudos: 71





	Children of the Force

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a scene from Chapter 14: The Tragedy in The Mandalorian. It plays on Ben Solo's childhood and a few theories related to Grogu's backstory.

It was night on Chandrilla. Ben Solo had finally fallen asleep an hour prior. He laid sprawled out across his dad’s chest, calmed by its gentle rise and fall. When he was younger, he fit snuggly against the full length of his dad's chest. Now that he was older, only half of his body fit, his lower half falling off to the side and curving around his dad's hip. The almost five-year-old child had had difficulty falling asleep ever since he was born. His restless nights were due to his mind being filled with nightmares of visions of reds, blues, and greens crashing together like crackling flames. There were also faces of various monsters that kept him from closing his eyes, and ones that looked like his parents. There were flashes of objects and worlds he had never seen before, some hauntingly desolate and forbidding and some happily dreamlike and wonderful. There were moments of calming light, but more moments of unknown darkness that left him feeling scared and alone.

And then there was a voice— _that_ voice. Some nights its deep, menacing tone would terrify him and startle him awake. Other nights it’s soft, calm tone comforted him and made him feel loved. 

On this particular night, deep in the recesses of his mind, the young Solo’s mind drifted towards a sound. It was a voice speaking in a tongue that was not similar to his mom and dad or his Uncle Chewie. It was childlike. He then saw himself, his small, quivering body blanketed by nothing but darkness.

“ _Follow the voice._ ” The usual voice was soft and calm tonight, and Ben obeyed it. 

The childlike coos came from all around him, like echoes. He didn’t know which direction to go, leaving him feeling disoriented. But he took one hesitant step blindly in the dark. Then another. And another.

What if he fell? What if he got hurt? What if he never saw his mom and dad again? What if he could never watch _Moray and Faz_ with his dad again? What if he never played with his Uncle Chewie again? He began to whimper the more steps he took.

Suddenly, he was swept away as if a strong force was pulling his body in a single direction. The black void vanished in the blink of an eye. His legs gave out from under him and he fell onto his side. He cried out loud, tears forming along the edges of his eyes. When he looked up, he was soon surrounded by color and light—a blue sky above. He struggled to get up, wiping at his face. Once back on his feet, he looked around and saw large rocks around him in every direction. His eyes widened and were full of fear and confusion, until they settled on a small, green creature with big, long ears sitting on top of a large rock. The creature was surrounded by a blue light. It looked like it was sleeping.

With curiosity now outweighing his fear, Ben approached the creature with short, careful strides. He stopped once he reached the blue light and extended a hand, his fingertips nearing it. But the sound of a voice speaking in his language stopped him.

“That’s it, kid! We got to get out of here!”

Another creature appeared behind him, wearing shiny clothes that reflected the light. He began to run towards him. 

“No, please!” Ben yelled, as he lifted his arms. 

The shiny creature was propelled backwards, sending a wave of energy surging into the air. 

The young Solo opened his eyes and found himself in a room with other children, some older and some the same age as himself. He could sense fear from them, terrible, paralyzing fear. The room was dark with only light coming in through the long window behind the children. He saw the back of a cloaked figure standing before them. 

“Master Skywalker, there’s too many of them. What are we gonna do?” One of the children said.

 _Uncle Luke?_ Ben asked himself. “Uncle Luke!” He yelled, feeling relieved and safe at last. 

A sharp sound pierced through the air. A bright stream of blue light appeared from the cloaked figure. It hummed like a threat. Suddenly, Ben froze as the figure slowly turned around. It wasn’t his Uncle Luke, but a man with a scar across his right eye. His eyes flickered with an intense darkness that settled on the young Solo, marking him as a target. 

The man lifted the light stick, preparing to cut Ben down. The young boy screamed and lifted his arms in front of his face. His heart pounded in his small chest, his breathing coming out hard and strained. 

He waited but nothing happened. He opened one eye and peeked out through the opening between his crossed arms. He was no longer in the room. The children and that man were gone. He was now in a long hallway, draped mostly in shadows.

“Shhh, Grogu,” someone whispered.

Ben turned to look in the direction of the voice. It was another cloaked figure, but it was not the same man. When the man stepped out from the shadows into the soft light, Ben was met with his features. The young Solo could make out his darker skin and a small creature in his arms. The creature looked like the same one sitting on that stone! Ben watched as the man ran past him, down the hallway, and disappeared around a corner.

“Wait!” He screamed, nearly crying and stumbling on his feet. Ben ran after them as fast as he could. 

But as he turned the corner, he felt his entire body drop, his stomach falling. He reappeared back under that blue sky among the grand stones. Dazed, Ben’s weary body fell to the ground. He brought his knees to his chest and began crying for his dad, for his mom. He was scared and all he wanted was to go back to sleeping in his dad’s arms. 

This wasn’t the first time his nightmares found him ending up in different places, but this time felt different, especially since the voice told him to do it. He was scared that if he didn’t listen to the voice, it would get mad at him and make him feel bad. He tried so hard not to make the voice angry.

Ben lifted his head when he heard the small creature whimpering. The blue light around it disappeared and the creature slumped tiredly onto its side. In the background, Ben could hear loud explosions and sounds whipping through the sky. 

Scared, he got up. Sensing that the little, green creature wasn’t dangerous, he slowly approached it and observed how it laid limp on the stone. The closer he got, the more he realized that it was just a child. 

He looked up at the child, who appeared feeble and helpless. Ben reached up to grab the edge of the large stone. His legs pushed as his arms pulled him up. When he reached the top, he sat next to the child.

“Hey. You okay?”

The green creature whimpered and opened its weary eyes. The sound was similar to the voice he followed in the dark.

“I’m scared too,” Ben said, feeling the child’s own fears. 

The child cooed sadly.

“Where’s your dad? Your mom?”

Ben reached out and touched him. When he did, all of the child’s emotions and memories flooded Ben. There were flashes of a muscular woman with black hair, an old man, friendly creatures, scary creatures, a ship and droids, men in white shooting a blaster like his own dad, a man with glasses poking and prodding the child, an orangish woman with white glowing sticks similar to the scary man with the children, frogs and eggs, a man dressed in all black, a small metal ball. But the constant in the child’s memories and emotions was that of the child’s connection to the creature in the shiny clothes. It was a similar feeling Ben had with his dad. Was that creature his dad?

He retracted his hand. The child looked up at him with a realization of what was shared between them. If Ben saw this child’s memories, did it also see his?

“That guy your dad?” Ben looked around, but didn’t see the man with the shiny clothes. 

The ground began to shake, small pebbles on the top of the stone bounced. Ben raised his head to see four black machines coming at them. Their red eyes burned brighter the closer they got. Ben shook in fear, but on instinct jumped on top of the child to cover it with his body. He would keep this child safe for its dad.

The machines grew closer and closer, the sounds of them roaring like monsters hunting their prey. 

The young Solo screamed at the top of his lungs. Loud sobs were accompanied by his flailing arms and legs, trying to punch and kick those black machines away. Instead it had woken up Han and left him with a few sores across his torso and thighs.

“Hey, hey.” Han tried to soothe his son.

Ben opened his eyes to see his dad staring at him, his face stricken with worry. 

“Another nightmare?” Han asked, sympathetically. 

“ _Don’t say a word._ ” The voice commanded in a stern tone that scared Ben from opening his mouth. 

The young Solo didn’t want to make the voice angry, so he kept quiet. But he was confused and scared because he didn’t know what he saw. Everything had happened so fast. But he wondered about the little, green creature with the big, long ears. Was the child okay? Did it find its dad? Ben didn’t know what he would do without his dad. He clung to Han and felt his dad’s arms enclose around him again. 

“It’s okay, Little Bandit.” Han gently rubbed his son’s back, as Ben rested his head on the comfort of his dad’s shoulder. “I’m here.”


End file.
